Bolinas park tax back on ballot: 'We're asking for less than $1 a week'

Bolinas landowners face a familiar ballot measure next month as they consider a $49 park tax that lost last November by several votes.

The park proposal is back on the ballot, this time as Measure I, a four-year levy aimed at maintaining Mesa Park, a key community facility sporting a soccer field, baseball diamond, basketball court, skate park and children's area.

A $45 annual tax to maintain the park at 110 Mesa Road expired last year. It taxed 633 parcels, raising about $31,000.

The measure needs a two-thirds majority vote to pass. Voters last November narrowly rejected a similar proposal, voting 539 to 275. It won 66.2 percent of the vote but needed 66.6 percent to pass.

"I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed," said Jane Mickelson, a member of the Mesa Park board that oversees the park operation. "We've been running on fumes since last June."

Revenue is needed to pay the utility bill, pay for a worker, buy fuel for the mower, reseed the fields, service the portable toilet, cover liability insurance and other costs, she noted.

"This aspect of community living is very important, especially for the young people," she said of the park program, noting people from all walks of life and all ages use the fields. "Playing fields really bring people together," she observed.

Mickelson handled the election last year, her first try at "structuring" a ballot campaign, and said it "was very discouraging" to lose by just three or four votes. This time, "I've rallied a whole group of excellent people" to help get the measure over the top, she said.

"If it doesn't pass we won't be able to reseed the fields or mow the fields," she said. "And we'll lose a big recreational opportunity for the children.